P.J.

There always should've been room for Hope on the canvas. Especially after Maureen died. She should've stepped in as the next Bauer matriarch. The aging of Alan Michael never was a barrier to that, as others have mentioned, actors playing parents/children haven't always been a generation apart. Successive writing regimes either weren't interested or didn't see the need. I'm less convinced when it comes to Elizabeth Spaulding. The woman was dull as dishwater.

Aww, I find it sweet that Irene Ruan watched the show. I guess they're referring to Ed marrying Holly? In '73?

I'm fine with first born sons being named after their fathers--and especially in Billy's case, it made sense that he would want to pass on his father's name. (I can't think of another son named after the father after A-M and Bill....I guess there's Phillip and Harley's kid Alan Zachary, but he was just Zach. I must be forgetting someone.) I am humbly grateful however, we were never stuck with anyone naming their daughter after "dead" Reva. That's a step too far.

Or even Ryan, the surname Quint grew up with. And forty years later I still dislike it and am sad the children named after Henry were not related to him. (Coop Bradshaw and Henry Lewis)

Yeah...Venton gives a sitcom dad vibe. Any idea who the lady is? She almost seems familiar.

Le Plat was good looking enough. Was he talented enough to pull off a Jekyll/Hyde kind of character? Maybe not. It's hard to judge with so little of that story up. But Marland was also weak in writing villains. They tended to be mustache twirlers (as opposed to "gray" characters like Roger or ATWT's John Dixon), with no really redeeming qualities. There's really no difference between Andy, Mark and Joe (the PI who was killed shortly after Diane Ballard.) Re: Robert Newman. Never has a beard made such a difference.

WHAT? I'd assumed this was the car accident that killed Jennifer (I think she was killed in an auto accident anyway), not an accident before Frannie was born! LOL...anyway, Bob must've been okay. whew

True. But hard to spark with the ever dull Hillary. I don't know--it's hard to distinguish "flopped" from "didn't work as intended." LOL...poor Peter Simon. Not easy getting months of "We want Mart back" mail.

cough cough....another possibility for the sensual male? (Actually two...) Greg Beecroft and Robert Newman. Tony was doin' just about everything in a skirt back in the day, yet no pairing really took off until Marland left. And Robert...well, Josh is underwhelming to say the least. I'd agree the leading candidate is Pinter (but he's later hired at ATWT under Marland). If it's characters that Marland lost interest in, you could also add Harley Venton as Derek Colby.

I still wish the Cotillion itself had shown more purpose. Sure, we heard that Samantha's idea of the clinic was great--yadda yadda--but most of the talk was the emphasis on the etiquette of it all and of course the Dupree history of winning the Deb of the Year. Yes, it was pretty. But I also wish someone other than Samantha had won, just to show that the Duprees don't automatically win everything they enter. The most interesting moment for me was when Chessie stopped her grandmother's protests and grudgingly gave the sash and tiara to Samantha. On a very picky note, couldn't the show have spent five minutes showing either of Samantha's fathers how to dance the waltz? And spare me Ashley's tears. I get why she needs to be upset, but it came off really hollow.

weird--just looked Justice up. in a picture from Mannix, she looks very similar to Lenore Kasdorf.

I had no idea Mary Stuart wrote either.

Thanks so much for continuing to look, and for posting these. I wish we could see Bob and Jennifer's car accident too.

Someone probably posted this a while ago, but an interview with Rebecca Hollen. Around the one minute mark (or so) it has a clip of her talking to Mike, which I don't think I've seen before.

It's just the antithesis of what Guiding Light was---you'd be forgiven in thinking you'd stumbled into a repeat of Mannix, FCOL, with those strange actions shots. And I will forever loathe that shot of Vanessa playing up to Tony. What I loved about the My Guiding Light opening (especially the original versions) was it gave you a sense of who the people were, and how they were involved. Springfield was not a town of spinning dancers, leering ankle lusters, and the occasional crime fighter. I think the show beefed up the younger crowd from the Dobson era. The Dobsons didn't really have a teen scene. And even the young adult crowd (maybe 25-30), Ben, Amanda, Eve, Hope seem to be playing older. (.That's just the impression from what's available to see, but it was happening on ATWT as well) Marland brings in Kelly/Morgan/Nola, makes Tim a little more involved. Even if they're not significantly younger, maybe they're not as established in their lives.

And I just realized they must be referencing the horrible disco opening. Hate Kobe for a variety of reasons, but "My Guiding Light" is an iconic opening.

Quint debuted in late summer/early fall of '81. It was right around the time Diane Ballard was murdered. Early in the investigation, the police questioned him, I believe. He bought Diane's shares of Spaulding, thus giving the Chamberlains (briefly) controlling interest in Spaulding. I'm not sure if she was still acting at the time, but Patty Weaver might have worked as a stronger version of Elizabeth.

Am I the only one thinking it was strange the reviewer thought it would/should be two different shows?

Stolen by Brandon and raised to avenge Alan's takeover of the company. Works as well as a dayplayer nun, or whack history where Josh/Billy/Ed/Buzz and Alan all went to a carnival in Springfield.

lol...a hw being concerned with "continuity garbage"? Say Rita died offscreen, and get on with it. By '00, (or whenever that bastard Gus popped up; ugh I hated him) the extremely few characters that would've even remembered Rita (Ed, Alan and Ross, arguably Blake and Rick...and perhaps Holly, depending on MG's exit) weren't going to be an issue. ConJob the hw who made Ben a sex escort/serial killer and killed him off (with the assurance that they'd write Bomer back in if he changed his mind)? [!@#$%^&*] THEM (*snort*) I think I remember Gus caterwauling about not wanting to be "a Spaulding", until he was given some kind of power.

I hadn't considered that they were keeping Evie around to introduce a recast Rita. Marland did like to blow up things with character returns. IDK if it would've worked. It's hard imagining anyone else in the role. '82 might've been the best time to try, with him still in the helm, but imo, he's already got plenty of characters running around with not a lot of story, iykwim. (lol at Rita stroking Alan's ego. I can understand why someone (I think it was Willmore) said the audience just made up their minds about Rita's motives no matter what they wrote. Rita always seems to be searching for someone to make her happy, and when the reality hits, she realizes she's not happy and moves on.) I don't remember Long discussing how it was difficult writing Roger and Holly, but Roger seems spot on. Holly is colder than she seemed in 79/80, but some of that you can write off to maturity. I agree that he wouldn't have hamstrung Jane with being a recast.

Nearly two years seems like a long time to hold on to hope Lenore would return. I could see Marland writing her---Long not so much. Long was into "big, showy" emotions. Rita wasn't that way.

And Janet was little more than a dayplayer who was taking care of Samantha. The second time they sidelined MG, they seemed to have little interest in any of the vets other than Reva. Even Josh is more dragged along into Reva's story.

MG really got pushed aside after Michael Zaslow's exit. A story with Sam seemed to be in the offing, but got shelved quickly.

It's hard for me to judge the Dobson's era, I know I watched, but I was too young to remember. Most of what's up seems very talky to me. As Marland's era hooked me, I remember it fondly.